Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland): Mean Scores for Samples of Saudi and American Men

Abstract

The Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1978) was translated into Arabic and administered in Arabic to a group of Saudi male employees in a technical training program sponsored by a large oil company in Saudi Arabia. Parallel translation of the 160 VPI occupational titles required alteration of fewer than 5% of the titles, e.g., English Teacher to Arabic Teacher, F.B.I. Agent to General Investigator, Mind Reader to Student Advisor, and Tree Surgeon to Nurseryman (Plant and Tree Grower). Administration was in a group setting using a standard translated response sheet. The sample mean age was 23.0 (SD = 2.5) yr.; the mean education Ievel was 12.1 (SD = 1.1 ) yr.